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BP Security Guard Shoots, Kills Polar Bear

A security guard shot and killed a polar bear at a BP facility in Alaska’s North Slope this month after the bear approached the company’s employee housing units. The guard is calling the incident an accident, saying he thought he was firing a bean bag round, not a lethal projectile. It’s illegal to kill polar bears as they are a “threatened species,” and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the shooting. The Center for Biological Diversity is also looking into potential legal action if the federal government does not prosecute. “We dearly wish it had not happened,” a BP spokesperson said, “but it’s not a trend or a population impact.” BP and other oil companies, however, are contributing the deaths of polar bears indirectly as climate change destroys their habitat.